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Richard Chase
|pathology=Serial Killer Spree Killer Family Annihilator Cannibal Necrophiliac "Vampirist" Enucleator |mo=Shooting Post-mortem mutilation |type=Disorganized lust |victims=6 killed 2 attempted |rank= |specialty= |time=December 27, 1977 - January 27, 1978 |charges=6 counts of murder |sentence=Death |capture=January 27, 1978 |status=Deceased |death place = Sacramento, California }} Richard Trenton Chase, a.k.a. "The Vampire of Sacramento", was a schizophrenic "vampirist"-type cannibalistic and necrophilic, family annihilator, one-time enucleator and serial killer/spree killer who was active in California from December 1977 to January 1978. Background Allegedly abused by his mother while growing up, Chase had already fulfilled the MacDonald triad (bed wetting, animal torture, and fire-setting) by the age of 10. In adolescence, he was already an alcoholic and chronic drug addict; Chase also had erectile dysfunction. When an adult, he became a hypochondriac, eventually moving out of his mother's home because he believed she was trying to poison him. He then moved into an apartment with some friends, who complained about his abuse of alcohol, marijuana, and acid. Chase paid no attention to guests and would sometimes walk around naked when his roommates had people over. His roommates got tired of him quickly and, when they tried to throw him out, he refused. In the end, they moved out instead. Alone in the apartment, Chase began capturing, killing and disemboweling animals, consuming them raw. Sometimes, he would blend them with Coca-Cola and drink the remains as a milkshake, allegedly to prevent his heart from shrinking. In 1975, he was involuntarily institutionalized after being treated at a hospital for blood poisoning, which he had contracted by injecting animal blood into his veins. His bizarre behavior continued while he was in treatment (the staff even took to calling him "Dracula") until he was prescribed psychotropic drugs. In 1976, he was deemed safe and placed in the care of his mother, who eventually prevented him from taking his anti-psychotic medications, allegedly because they dulled him, and got him his own apartment. Killings, Arrest, and Suicide Chase killed his first known victim Ambrose Griffin, a 51-year old engineer with two children, on December 27, 1978. And from January 22-27, he murdered five more victims. Chase's final victims were the residents of the Miroth home. Chase murdered four people there when a visitor's knock on the door sent him fleeing in the homeowner (Evelyn Miroth)'s car. The unnamed visitor alerted a neighbor who alerted the police. Chase was subsequently arrested after his DNA and shoe-prints were identified all over the Miroth house massacre. Chase was charged with six counts of murder and sentenced to death. Before his death date was due, Chase had multiple interviews with FBI agent Robert K. Ressler and was feared by his fellow inmates (aware of his brutal and disgusting crimes), who even urged him to commit suicide. He would discuss his motives and beliefs to Ressler during these interviews. Chase was found dead in his cell on December 26, 1980, from an overdose of antidepressants. He was 30 at the time of his death. Profile "White male aged twenty-five to twenty-seven; thin, undernourished appearance; single; living alone in a location within one mile of abandoned station wagon owned by one of the victims. Residence will be extremely slovenly and unkempt, and evidence of the crimes will be found at the residence. Suspect will have a history of mental illness and use of drugs. Suspect will be an unemployed loner who does not associate with either males or females and will probably spend a great deal of time in his own residence. If he resides with anyone, it will be with his parents. However, this is unlikely. Suspect will have no prior military history; will be a high school or college dropout; probably suffers from one or more forms of paranoid psychosis." -Robert K. Ressler's profile of Richard Chase Chase's killings were attempts at self-preservation, or so he believed. He had delusions of persecution by alien forces and insisted that he only ingested human flesh and blood to protect himself from "outside forces" that were trying to steal his bloodSome sources say he was trying to prevent Nazis from turning his blood to powder, and others say he was trying to prevent aliens from stealing his brain or shrinking his heart.. He thought his heart was shrinking and believed drinking blood would stop it. These paranoid delusions, coupled with schizophrenia, had been noticed in his childhood, and only became more severe as he got older. He was in his early twenties when his ability to maintain a stable life on his own began to crumble, and he was institutionalized. Once he was released, his killings would begin, probably due to the fact that his mother weaned him off of his medication because she thought it made him lethargic though he had murdered at least one victim beforehand. Modus Operandi Chase used a .22 Automatic handgun to kill his victims. His first murder was a drive-by shooting, while the rest were home invasions. After shooting his victims, Chase would mutilate the bodies and ingest the blood and organs and would engage in necrophilia with his female victims. Known Victims *1977: **December 27: An unidentified woman **December 29: ***Ambrose Griffin, 51 ***An unidentified boy, 12 *1978: **January 22: Teresa Wallin, 22 **January 27: The massacre at Evelyn Miroth's home: ***Daniel Meredith, 51 ***Evelyn Miroth, 38 ***Jason Miroth, 6 ***David Ferreira, 1 *Notes: In mid-1977, Chase was also arrested in Lake Tahoe because he was covered in blood and had guns and a bucket of blood in his car. He managed to convince the arresting officer that it came from an animal and no charges were filed. On Criminal Minds ".]] *Season One **"Blood Hungry" - Chase is mentioned briefly by Reid, who states he was driven to kill and drink the blood of his victims by aliens he believed had invaded his body and were drinking his blood. Hotch then mentioned he would die if he did not drink enough of the blood he needed. The reference is accompanied by a black-and-white flashback depicting Chase (portrayed by an uncredited actor) drinking blood from a pitcher in a slightly ceremonial manner. He was also the apparent inspiration for the episode's unsub, Eddie Mays - Both were spree killers and cannibals who were severely delusional and former drug addicts with a strained relationship with their mothers. Like Chase, Eddie also stored the blood and body parts he took from his victims in food containers, which left bloody rings at the crime scenes. Both also attempted suicide following interviews with FBI agents (although Chase was successful while Eddie survived after being rescued). *Season Five **"The Performer" - While not directly mentioned or referenced in this episode, Chase appears to have been an inspiration for the episode's unsub, Gina King - Both were "vampirist"-type serial killers who were mentally-ill with schizophrenia and active in California, collected buckets of their victims' blood and drank from them because they believed that it was necessary for their own survival (as an undead companion of Paul Davies's stage character "Dante", in Gina's case), and lived in dilapidated homes alone with a mother figure (Chase's mother and Gina's grandmother, respectively). *Season Eleven **"Internal Affairs" - While not directly mentioned or referenced in this episode, Chase appears to have been an inspiration for the episode's unsub, Jacob DuFour - Both were serial killers with a history of severe mental illness, killed animals as minors and mutilated their victims post-mortem to satisfy some sort of delusion. *Season Twelve **"Hell's Kitchen" - While not directly mentioned or referenced in this episode, Chase appears to have been an inspiration for the episode's unsub, John Malone - Both were "vampirist"-type serial killers who were psychotic and delusional, targeted women (although Chase also targeted males), and would drink their victims' blood because of their delusions. Sources *Wikipedia's article on Chase *Robert Keller's blog article on Chase *About.com's article on Chase References Category:Real People Category:Real World Criminals Category:Real Life Killers Category:Real Cannibals Category:Real Enucleators Category:Real Family Annihilators Category:Real Institutionalized Criminals Category:Real Serial Killers Category:Real Spree Killers Category:Real Life Child Killers Category:Real Life Schizophrenics Category:Incarcerated Real World Criminals Category:Deceased Real World Criminals Category:Real Suicides Category:Real Criminals Referenced in Season One Category:Real Mutilators Category:Real Necrophiliacs